Monday, December 14, 2015

I haven’t had much
time to blog, and to be quite honest I really haven’t had anything worthy of
sharing (not that it’s stopped me before.)
I’m still having a little knee issue, and even though my injury is
improving it’s taking a long time. So,
that means I haven’t been riding much. I
wanted to change that this past weekend.

I was trying to do
a fun urban/cruising ride down in Myrtle Beach on Saturday, but working late
Friday night meant that I didn’t really have the time to drive down to stay
with our Charleston friends (where Little Miss Sunshine was waiting.) She talked me out of trying to drive down to
meet everyone at 9:30 a.m. in Myrtle Beach, so after sleeping in a little Saturday morning I woke
up with nothing to do.

I didn’t feel like
heading to the hills (alone since I no haz friends), so I started going over
local options. I limited it to really
close trails, but I didn’t want to be bored to death. I almost settled on Sherman Branch, but then
I remembered Rocky River Trail.

Technically
challenging, tough climbs, and the ability to make the ride as short or as long
as you want. That was perfect for the ride
I thought I wanted. Plus, being alone
meant that I could stop and take pictures whenever I want. Like when I see critters.

You have goat to be
kidding me.

Since I hadn’t been
riding much lately, the climbs were HARD.
My knee felt good though, so I just pushed through the pain in my lungs
and my barely used leg muscles. Luckily,
there are downhills.

With every
downhill, there seemed to be a climb.
Despite the sign reminding me that I had a choice of places to ride, I didn’t regret my
decision.

One of the neatest
features out there is the viaduct, which aside from being fun to ride is pretty
amazing to see.

It wasn’t all fun
and games though. Towards the end of the
ride, I was pooped. On one of the final
climbs when I stood up to mash, my wheel slipped out from underneath me and I
took a tumble.

Ouch.

I’d rather be out
on my bike, so even though I busted my ass it was much better than just sitting
on my ass.

And the crash wasn’t so
bad. Nothing was broken (me or the
bike.) With one climb to go, I was feeling
like I made the right choice. Nearing
the top, I recognized a foul stench that nearly made me gag. As I started to look around for a dead
animal, I spotted something hanging on a tree.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Well, far
enough.Rather than participate in that
shitty shopping ritual called “Black Friday”, I wanted to get as far away from
shopping stuff as I could (without driving all day.)Luckily, the Dirty Party Cycle hit me up a
few days before and suggested that we take a trip to Uwharrie…

That seemed like a
great idea.The trails there don’t get a
ton of use and there’s not much around in the way of shopping.I was excite.

While not the “real”
mountains, it’s still the mountains damn it.A few tough climbs, some rad downhills, and views that make you think
that you might be “way up there.”

We didn’t stop much
for photos, and even though he offered, the DPC didn’t taker any shots of
me.I got one of him though.

There’s been a lot
of logging out there recently though.I
was concerned at first, but it looks like they aren’t really impacting the
trails.Still, we stopped to chat with a
local driver about what they’ve been up to out there.

The trails were in
awesome shape too (that’s always a plus.)My friend and “sorta” local all around good guy Chris Green had been
there to clear the trails of leaves and debris recently (including once after
our ride.)The trails don’t take care of
themselves, you know.

It was a great
day.You know, because we weren’t out
there fighting people to get a “deal” on a shitty TV.It was nice to be outside and not inside
spending money.Well, scratch that.We did spend a little money…

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

So, I finally started a new
job (I need money for bikes and guitars) and it’s going quite well.It’s actually what I’d been hoping to find
when I took the last one (that turned out to be bullshit.)Anyway, with the new job comes time off
already, and I’m good with that.Even
though Thanksgiving isn’t really my thing, having days off to play is my
thing.Instead of gathering around the
table and putting up with “thankful” long-lost family members, the little lady
and I took off for a little ride near the house.

You know, at that
rad trail we built called RTS…

It was pretty damn
awesome.

Little Miss Sunshine
was all smiles, and it was one of the most beautiful days we’ve had around here
in a while.

Since this trail is hand built, it’s full of
rocks and roots.You know, fun
stuff.

You don’t “race” at
RTS.It will kick your ass even though
it’s not “epic” in terms of mileage.

Plus, fun and all
that.

With a long holiday
weekend, riding near the house was a perfect way to kick it off.I’ve been in a really good mood lately, no
doubt because my career situation has changed for the better.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

A few days into my “quit
shitty job and getaway” adventure, I was pretty damn satisfied. I rode some fun trails, hung out with friends
and family, and reminisced in my hometown.
I wasn’t done though. Since I
brought a bike, I wanted to ride some more. And no trip to Florida
would be complete without a trip to one of the first trails I’ve ever ridden…

I got to the trail
pretty early, ready to enjoy a leisurely ride.
The last time I was at Santos,
I did a 12 hour race on a rigid singlespeed.
That was a different kind of fun I guess. Anyway, looking forward to not having to push
myself for 12 hours I took off…

And immediately
experienced some of the most horrific knee pain ever.

Not even in the
trail yet and I was hurting. Instead of
canceling my ride to nurse my swollen knee, I opted to play around on the
skills course for a bit to see if things would “loosen up.” It didn’t help one bit, but my stubborn ass
decided to ride anyway. The trail starts
out pretty flat so I figured I’d be fine.

The pain was subdued
as long as I didn’t stand up to pedal, so the first few miles weren’t so bad. I
still stopped a lot just in case.

I couldn’t
resist playing around though, even if it did hurt when I stood up.

That was fun, but
this one was fun-er…

I somehow made it
all the way to the Vortex (as seen in the photo above.) My knee seemed to be getting worse, but
seeing the Florida “mountains”
made me forget about it a little.

But I still wanted
to crawl in a hole and die.

The Vortex section is tough. It’s where you find quite a
bit of climbing, and with my knee getting much worse I ended up walking a
lot. I sat down for a while, wondering
if I would even be able to make it back to the trail head. I considered asking someone out there for a
ride back, but I can't go for that.
Eventually I fought through the pain (making matters worse no doubt) and
rolled slowly through the woods to reach my truck. I sat for a while with my leg elevated and
wondered why I had been a complete dumbass. My knee was the size of a softball at this
point and I could barely bend it.

Shit.

Somehow I managed
to pack up my stuff and went on a quest for some liquid “medicine.” Luckily I only had to travel across the
street…

They sell beer, and
of course you can drink it right there in the shop.

I felt better, but
my knee hurt (alcohol is rad but not that rad.)
I piled into my truck and drove away, wondering if I would be able to
walk the next time I stopped. I took frequent
breaks from driving to stretch my leg, and it helped just a little bit. Luckily when I stopped in Jacksonville
to get beer I had a cart to hold on to.

The mystery injury
was a few weeks ago. I still haz
pain. I’ve been on one road ride since
then and it seems to be a little better.
I have a long way to go I guess.
Who knows. I didn’t do anything
to hurt it, but at least the diagnosis isn’t too bad (bursitis.) I may have a bum knee for a while, but damn
if that trip didn’t do me wonders.

I’ve since started
a new job (pretty damn awesome), and I have a new outlook on things these days.
This is the first time in a long time
that I’ve consistently been in a good mood.

Who gives a shit.

I do, I guess. For now.

See y’all next
week. I have a four day weekend because natives saved some white people from starving to death many moons ago.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

You’ve heard it
before. I took a chance with a career move and it really sucked.It affected me daily and I was in a dark
place mentally.When I finally got a
chance to get out of there, going back to Florida
(albeit temporarily) seemed like a logical choice.Head back to where I grew up so I could clear
my head before I took my next step?It
was just enough of a plan.

I camped (and rode)
in the swamp, getting into a fun adventure with my pal Mr. Shepherd.I left that afternoon and drove to a few
different places around the state to see some friends.Spending time with people from various parts
of my past was good for me, and I capped off my second day with a drive back to my hometown
with another childhood friend enjoying some beer at a local watering hole.

It was a long night but it was good to catch up. Since he had to go
to work the next morning, I got out of his house pretty early.I decided to ride around town and do a little
reminiscing.The sleepy little city
where I spent most of my life has changed quite a bit, but in a lot of ways it
was the same.

In some ways it was
like I never left...

One thing I saw made me a
little sad that I left.Just a short
walk from my old house, the craft beer trend has finally infiltrated the place
where I was born.

I guess I'll be back there really soon.

I drove around for
quite a while, but then I heard from my brother.He works at Gatorland (just across the county line) and invited me to
spend some time with him.I wasn’t about
to miss a chance to see him and hang out with some of the most fascinating
creatures on the planet.

And as a bonus, he
took me on the zip line where I flew through the air over lots of hungry
reptiles.

That was a helluva
ride.

It was nice to
spend a few hours with my brother, but it was time to ht the road.With no definite plans and no destination in
mind, I drove back to my hometown to spend a little alone time on the lake.

When I was a kid,
there was a much older and shittier version of this pier in that spot and aside from fishing there, it
was a right of passage to jump off of it into the lake on a hot summer day. This day though, I just sat at the end of it for a long
time, thinking about how much fun it was to be a kid in that little town.

And as the sun went
down on “my” lake, I thought about what I would do next.

It didn’t
matter.For the first time in a long
time, my head was in the right place again.